


There Was Never a Chance

by t_stonehill



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 19:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20917430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_stonehill/pseuds/t_stonehill
Summary: My friends were disappointed that there's no unique cutscene for if Claude deals the final blow to Edelgard in the Golden Deer route, so this is my version of what that scene might have looked like.





	There Was Never a Chance

Edelgard and Claude faced each other across the throne room. Edelgard stood on top of a tall dias, resplendent in her golden imperial armor. She looked almost untouched by the surrounding conflict, although she had gotten her hands dirty many times over since sparking the war. Claude, on his white wyvern, struck an equally imposing figure in Almyran armor, very much the figure of Fodlan’s ancestral enemy. He was battered and bloody, having fought his way through the imperial army to the throne room, and still he carried himself with the bearing of a king. Together, the two looked very much like leaders of nations, the sorts of warriors who go down, not just in history, but in myth and legend.

Only a handful of years earlier, they had been classmates. Ordinary teenagers with ordinary teenage problems. Those ordinary days in Garreg Mach seemed so distant, and yet so close, as the two former friends met eyes across the battlefield.

“Your ideals, I understand they’re not so far removed from my own,” said Edelgard, stepping forward. “But without sufficient knowledge of this land’s suffering, I can’t entrust Fodlan to you!”

“Perhaps,” said Claude. As usual, his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I daresay it’s true that I don’t fully understand the history of Fodlan. Still, I’ve seen many things in my life. Don’t worry. I’ll finish the job for you.”

Claude swooped down, firing an arrow just as he passed Edelgard, but her reflexes were as quick as Claude’s eye and she swung her axe, knocking the arrow out of the air before it could hit her. But Claude quickly retreated back out of her range before she could mount a counterattack. Edelgard rushed down the stairs to chase after him, but Claude continued to retreat, continually staying just out of range. At the bottom of the stairs, Edelgard paused, axe at the ready. She waited patiently while Claude circled in the air, looking for an opening.

They were evenly matched in skill and power. If he was to defeat her, he’d have to go for a risky gambit. Claude smirked. Where was the fun in battle without a little risk? This next action would determine the fate of Fodlan. And not only Fodlan, although he seemed to be the only one who could see across its borders…

Claude dove, not to swoop past as he had before, but directly towards Edelgard, with his Wyvern’s claws outstretched. Edelgard stepped back, her eyes widening in surprise, but she still acted quickly, raising her axe.

Edelgard and the wyvern struck each other at the same moment, claws scraping against armor, axe scraping against scales. Edelgard was knocked back by the weight of the blow, and the wyvern writhed at the pain of its own wound, dumping Claude from its back.

Claude had been expecting this and rolled into the landing, minimizing the damage, and quickly regaining his feet.

Edelgard was on her knees, breathing heavily, clearly wounded by the impact with the wyvern. Her axe was several feet away, having been knocked from her hand. She looked at Claude as he approached, her expression both defiant and resigned.

“It looks as though… my path… will end here…” said Edelgard. It seemed as though it was difficult for her to speak. “Claude, claim your victory. Strike me down. You must! Even now, across this land, people are killing each other… If you do not act now, this conflict will go on forever.”

“And whose fault is that!” shouted Claude, his smile gone entirely. “If our ideals are really so in line with each other, couldn’t you have confided in me back then? Before you started all this! I may not have had the deep personal history with you or with this country that others had, but I thought I was your friend. Was I nothing more than an outsider to you? Did you not trust me? Did you not trust your own mission enough to think you could have persuaded me that it was the right path?”

Edelgard turned her head away, no longer willing to look Claude in the eye. “I couldn’t trust anyone. If my plan was to succeed… For the sake of Fodlan, I was willing to cast it all away and become the villain.”

Claude shook his head sadly. “And that’s where our ideals differ. You’re a singular woman, Edelgard. All you’ve ever been able to see is a single focus, a single plan, a single nation. If only you could have broadened your view. What’s the point of saving Fodlan if the rest of the world suffers for it?”

“It’s far too late to debate this now,” said Edelgard.

“It’s not too late, if you surrender…”

“No, Claude,” said Edelgard. “If you truly wish to bring your vision of the world into existence, then your path lies across my grave. It is time you had the courage to walk it.”

“Edelgard…”

Edelgard closed her eyes, and smiled a little sadly. “It’s a shame. If I must fall, I wish it could have been by the professor’s hand. If I had been able to walk the same path as her, perhaps things could have been truly different…”

Claude laughed, and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. For a just a moment, he seemed to once again be that carefree student at Garreg Mach. “I can’t believe it. To the very end, you still don’t take me seriously. I guess there was never a chance we could have walked the same path, huh.”

Claude shook his head, and then was serious once again. When he drew back his bow, he wore the expression of a king, noble and distant. Without another moment of hesitation, he let the arrow fall.

“I’m sorry, my friend,” said Claude, in a small voice. “I promise I’ll create a just world, for your sake as well.”


End file.
